Notes on Factors in Collective Intelligence

There are probably hundreds of factors we could identify as important for the generation of collective intelligence in different types of human system. We find these factors wherever we see collective intelligence being exercised, and when we support them (especially in combination) we often find collective intelligence increasing.

From my work with reflective forms of CI in groups, communities and societies, I find that about fifteen factors stand out most vividly, and I've listed them with brief descriptions here. As I tried to articulate them, I noticed how they overlapped and showed up as part of each other. So I expect as we develop this list further -- and I hope we do -- we will find these things are intimately interrelated. I further hope we will continually learn more about those interrelationships. That said, I think articulating such factors as if they are distinct gives us useful points of entry in our work to enhance collective intelligence.

With that purpose in mind, I invite you to add your own additions (and modifications) in the comments section below.

Levels/realms of human collective intelligence

Here is a list of human systems which I think of as being capable of collective intelligence. It is, of course, only one possible list of this kind. Note that these are HUMAN systems. Other organisms, social species and ecosystems -- at least -- are also capable of collective intelligence.

The systems on this list may share certain characteristics, but they also may have different characteristics. Hopefully someday we will know more about this and be able to talk clearly and usefully about collective intelligence dynamics in each of these human systems, and the relationships between them.

At the very least, right now, we can be conscious of the level(s) or system(s) we're focusing on, and realize that others may be focusing on other levels or systems -- and that that may be a significant reality. My own focus has been on community and whole society collective intelligence. A tremendous amount of work has been done on collective intelligence in organizations, because corporations have the funds and motivation to support such work. What sorts of higher collective intelligence are most vital for our survival and thrival as a civilization? What needs to happen for those sorts of collective intelligence to evolve and grow rapidly?

Notes on Forms of Collective Intelligence (CI)

I have lately been receiving a lot of information on forms of and approaches to collective intelligence that do not fit within models I've been working with for the last fifteen years (that are largely deliberative). I am no expert on these other approaches, but encountering them has led me to brainstorm an annotated list of different forms to cover what I've seen so far.

I feel certain my list is not complete and that there are other ways of differentiating forms of collective intelligence, which I'd love to hear about. I intend this initial listing to be temporarily clarifying and stimulating and, hopefully, to trigger people to come up with new ways to map this terrain that better lay the groundwork for an evolving general theory of collective intelligence that embraces all variations.

Note that not all collective capacities are "intelligence." Occasionally CI overlaps with other capacities like collective consciousness or "power-with" -- capacities that can be characterized by collective stupidity OR collective intelligence. Furthermore, some dimensions of collective intelligence, like "flow," have collectively stupid manifestations (mobs) as well as collectively intelligent ones (high functioning teams). I will try to navigate these distinctions creatively here, but the reader should keep them in mind.

Note also that some phenomena that I have not included here could conceivably be included in this list. For example, are "networks" an intrinsic form of CI, or are they a pattern useful in developing CI? I have chosen the later categorization, but people more familiar with networks may be able to make a case for them as a distinct form of CI.

The challenge of co-intelligent economy

In his comment on the entry about Is self-awareness a requirement for CI?, Tom Atlee called our attention to something that's a truly foundational condition of boosting the CI of large social systems.

His perspective is also essential to further the inquiry into the concept of evolutionary threshold that we opened last month with the entry on How would we know, we reached tipping point? (After reading Tom's passionate call below, you may want to loop back to the "tipping point" entry to get a sense of yet another context in this network of CI conversations, to which his idea is highly pertinent.) Tom Atlee wrote:

I'd like to see greater understanding, application, and nurturance of ALL dimensions and types of collective intelligence -- even such mundane factors as designing economic measures of success such that the self-organizing market dynamics that get motivated by those measures (and the rewards associated with them) automatically generate outcomes that serve the quality of life of all who live within that economic system.

Whose intelligence is expressed by the "self-organizing market dynamics" that Tom refers to?

Is self-awareness a requirement for CI?

In a comment to The emergence of CI, an online experiment, somebody asked this question:

> In other words, is self-awareness a requirement for being a CI?

I choose to respond here, in this entry, as to give more visibility to that question, the importance of which cannot be overestimated.

The collective intelligence of the imaginal cells

This afternoon, I heard of "imaginal cells," the first time, from Peter Merry. I've immediately googled the term but found mostly bio-science references, except one webpage that had some thought-provoking excerpts from Butterfly , a bookby Norie Huddle , published on Earth Day, 1990.

I thought if fans of collective intelligence are a little bit like me, then they'll appreciate Norie's beautiful story about the butterfly's 'imaginal cells. It evokes images of possibility to escape to a higher level of intelligence and fitness, with utter naturalness and eloquent simplicity.

Here's the story:

When community intelligence becomes market intelligence...

Have you ever wondered what is common in “community intelligence,” "swarm intelligence," "smart mobs" and "tipping points"? According to market intelligence guru, Britton Manasco, they are all about a “drift toward potential innovations that draw on the unspoken and unanticipated knowledge of today's (and tomorrow's) customers.”

Frankly, I would have never thought of them that way. First, I was shocked by the concurrent obviousness and trickiness of his statement. Then, I got fascinated by the fertile questions that his thoughts give access to. I will tell you why, but to give you a fuller context, I suggest that before that, read his short but very insightful entry on “Wise Crowds” in the “Customer Intelligence” blog of Corante.

“The Wisdom of Crowds” and the colors of collective intelligence

This morning received an email from a friend with “Re: something's emerging:” on the subject line. It called my attention to a new book on The Wisdom of Crowds, by James Surowiecki, a columnist at The New Yorker. I googled it and found out that it is not published yet but has already 425 pages carrying its reference, as of today.

The message threw off what I was planning to do today because I’ instantaneously became very curious of what’s happening, went to the Q&A section of the booksite, and found reasons for both some concerns and joyful anticipation of the book. (I will follow this entry about the concerns with one about the joyful anticipation, in the next couple of days.)

Social learning theory can stabilize new peaks of CI

In the new "From States to New Stage" category of blog entries I started exploring what it will take to reach a new, higher plateau of CI not only as a temporary group experience but as a sustainable capacity of human communities. The most exciting and most promising development I know of, which will shed light on the path, is a collaborative learning journey (May 17 -June 20) that will be facilitated by Etienne Wenger about his new research plan, Learning for a Small Planet.

Building on his earlier work as a pioneer of "communities of practice," the new phase of his work expands to "large-scale social learning systems involving complex constellations of communities of practice." It will be hosted online by CPsquare and the best is that you can join us there if you want to. In the blog of the European Collaborative for Communities of Practice (ECCoP), Seth Kahan explains how to.

It will be a unique opportunity to accelerate our learning journey to become more effective facilitators of CI emerging at every level, from workplace communities and their constellations, to global movements and projects. I will be there and hope you too.

synergy / feedback loops / surprising capabilities

In the Unpredictable Emergence of Learning entry of his blog, Julian Elvé looked into the white space between my entries on How local meetings w/global experts can boost CI, horizontalization of learning and blognotes by two other people. Julian established a couple of—cognitive and trackbacked—links between them, including:

The public, linked, asynchronous nature of blogs and related technologies both exposes conversations to a wider pool of people and helps the ideas start to flow before any face-to-face meeting.

His picking up on that fave theme of mine inspired me to share more about it. The "it" is intermedia synergy, the social, knowledge, and (potential) business value emerging from the right combination of two or more modes of communication, including real-time and asynchronous. I've been extensively thinking and writing about this since 1986, most of which has never made it to my blogs.

What this trackback-facilitated exchange with Julian reminds me is that what is getting cross-fertilized in blogosphere is not only information and ideas but also inspiration. The fact that somebody is paying attention to and find useful what one writes, establishes a posiive feedback loop calling forth more on that subject. In this way, what we pay attention to tends to expand. Directly or indirectly, our attention is guided by our values, AND in its aggregates, it is guiding the global brain's imprinting new neural paths upon itself.

When a significant minority of change agents in an organization starts paying attention to what they pay attention to, their emerging new knowledge and combined capabilities will be rather surprising.

Visualizing social networks

I received this message via an email distribution list:

> you may have seen this already, but this is a beautiful example of visualizing networks (and their intersection). kind of a brain-like tool for community. http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~jheer/infovis/final/

and responded:

Thank you for the pointer to the site. I looked it up and am happy for having done so. That’s because I think:

Increasing the capacity of people and communities to visualize their (online) social networks is essential to the evolution of Collective Intelligence (CI). I believe it is one of the key conditions to move from fleeting moments of collective consciousness of what we’re becoming to new, stabilized stages of CI.

It is also essential to “the advancement of the Collective Comprehensional Bandwidth. If mutual respect depends on understanding, and understanding hinges on information sharing, then anything that can be done to increase productive information sharing is also helping our world towards increased mutual respect.” (Jason Wilson)

How local meetings w/global experts can boost CI

This entry is copied from an email exchange with ChrisMacrae, with his permission. He wrote:

> -the need of deep foreign experts who travel through London to find 10
> disciples (in any way that disciples can help as the opposite of
> audiences paying to hear)

Chris, I remember, you mentioned that idea in the conversations we had with you and Johnnie Moore, last Friday, and suggested me to participate in such conversation, the next time when I will visit London. In the same conversation, besides gently deflecting to be treated as a guru :-) I extolled the benefits to our collective intelligence if we could seamlessly integrate and synergize our real-time and asynch dialogues. Your email provides me with an opportunity to illustrate my point as follows.

From states of collective consciousness to a new, higher stage of CI

At the end of his feature on the Mystery of Collective Intelligence, in the May-July 2004 issue of “What Is Enlightenment?” magazine, Craig Hamilton asked: “What would it take for us to remove any barriers to the emergence of collective consciousness, not just as an occasional peak experience but as a permanent ongoing capacity?”

That question comes on the last of 24 pages filled with stories of small groups experiencing spontaneous irruptions of collective consciousness—described in very evocative images by their participants—and interviews with pioneers of the collective intelligence and wisdom movement. It is breathtaking survey and vista of this rapidly emerging field, that I recommend to all readers of this blog to visit.

The rest of this blog entry is a modest contribution to the efforts of addressing the question raised by Craig Hamilton.